​Lazy Pizza Dough + Margherita Pizza

From Deb at Smitten Kitchen!

This recipe can be made 24, 12 or 6 hours before you need. Of course, more time means more flavor!
For the dough:
​3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose or bread flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons sea or kosher salt
1 1/4 cup water, plus an additional tablespoon or two if needed
Overnight dough: heaped 1/8 tsp yeast
All-day dough: heaped 1/4 tsp yeast
Part-day dough: heaped 1/2 tsp yeast

For the pizza:
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Pinch of sugar, if desired
8 ounces aged mozzarella (sold in plastic, not water) (use more if you like your pizza with extra cheese)
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
Two glugs of olive oil
Few leaves of fresh basil, torn or sliced
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For the dough:
Mix all ingredients together into a craggy wet dough. You can add a few tablespoons more water if the dough feels a bit dry. Let the dough sit overnight, all day, or part day. Use when needed as follows, according to Deb:
  • Flour your counter very well. Scrape dough out of bowl onto floured counter; in the time it has risen it should change from that craggy rough ball to something very loose, soft, sticky and stretchy. Flour the top of the dough, and divide dough in half (or more pieces, if you’re making smaller pizzas). Form them into ball-like shapes. Grab first round with floured hands and let the loose, soft dough stretch and fall away from your hands a few times before landing the dough on your prepared baking sheet/paddle. Use floured fingers to press and nudge dough into a roughly round or rectangular shape. Add desired fixings (see below for My Favorite Margherita Pizza) and bake pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, rotating if it’s baking unevenly, until the top is blistered and the crust is golden. Repeat with remaining dough.

For the margherita pizza:
Drain the tomatoes in a colander, giving them a squeeze to release more of the juices. Let them sit for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to its highest setting - 450° or 500°. 

Add garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and sugar (if needed), and blend in a blender until smooth. 

Add 1/3 cup sauce to dough and spead it out evenly. (You can save the remaining sauce in the fridge or freezer.) Tear or crumble the mozzarella into small pieces and scatter over the sauce. Drizzle with a smidge of olive oil. 

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the top is slightly charred and the crust is golden. Out of the oven, top with Parmesan and basil. 
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Source

​Notes from Deb:
The best things to know about this recipe are that it doesn’t need to be kneaded and the yeast doesn’t need to be proofed. You simply dump and stir the whole mess together in one bowl (this will take less than 5 minutes of your time) and go on with your day; it will be ready when you are. If you get started with it an hour late or early on either end, you should find the pizza dough just fine to use. It rises at room temperature; it doesn’t take up space in your fridge or require time to warm up; it doesn’t need to be babysat. You can choose the schedule that works for you because it fits itself to your day, not the other way around, thank goodness.
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The scariest thing about this dough is that it is very, very soft. You won’t roll it out, you’ll stretch and nudge it with floured fingertips into a pizza-like shape. It will stick to things and annoy you; you will be convinced that this messy blob will never become a pizza. Do not panic. When it comes out of the oven, you’ll know why you put up with it — the exterior crackles, the interior stretches, and the flavor has the depth of an artisanal loaf of bread.